When it comes to Social Security, Democratic congressional candidate Suzanne Bonamici doesn't venture far beyond talking about raising taxes on the wealthy to shore up the retirement system, something that appears dead on arrival politically.

Her Republican rival, Rob Cornilles, is willing to go further out on a political limb by suggesting he would support a bipartisan deal like the one cut in 1983 that could gradually trim benefits for future Social Security recipients.

But Cornilles is more cautious on how to deal with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country. He says it's not practical to try to deport them, but he rejects Bonamici's call for giving them a path to citizenship.

Instead, he says, "Let's put everybody's best ideas on the table and I don't think that's been done for many, many years in this country."

So goes the race in Oregon's 1st Congressional District, where the candidates sometimes have sharp and divergent views on the issues, but other times resort to safe talking points that make it difficult for the average voter to figure out just how they would proceed in Congress.

For that reason, we've looked closely at their public statements and quizzed the two leading candidates to figure out how they approach key issues -- and where they've ducked saying how they would vote.

Reviving the economy

At every turn, the two candidates are asked how they would help create more jobs.

Cornilles says he would have more clout as a member of the majority party in the House to help steer federal money here, such as for the $3 billion Columbia River Crossing project.

Bonamici says she's the one with legislative experience who knows how to work the levers of power in government. She says she'd start pushing the Small Business Administration to provide more help for small businesses in the district and work with the credit unions on legislation allowing them to make more business loans.

You see their real differences when they start talking about what Congress should do to help create jobs.

Bonamici agrees with most of her fellow Democrats in Congress that they should raise taxes on well-to-do taxpayers and corporations and that a lot of this money could go into public works projects – such as the aforementioned Columbia crossing project –that would help put more people back to work.

In fact, she tends to talk about taxing the wealthy and cracking down on corporate tax breaks when talking about investing more in education and tackling the budget deficit. She sometimes adds that she wants to cut subsidies to large farmers and gain savings by winding down the war in Afghanistan.

Bonamici doesn't explain how this additional revenue could fill so many deep holes other than to say "it is a matter of priorities."

Cornilles also hones in on taxes as key to job creation, but in a different way. Although Congress appears deadlocked now on taxes –lawmakers have even had trouble agreeing on a year-long extension of the payroll tax holiday that both Democrats and Republicans said they wanted –Cornilles says he'd push for a massive rewrite of the tax code to remove many deductions and lower tax rates.

Providing "certainty" in the tax code would encourage more businesses to invest and give many individual taxpayers extra money they would pump back into the economy, he says. Cornilles likes to use as his model the 1986 tax reform law authored by then-Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore.

What Cornilles won't say is what he would do if major tax reform doesn't go anywhere and he's left having to decide whether to extend the Bush tax cuts past 2012.

"I would cross that bridge when I get to it in December of this year," says Cornilles, who adds that he would want to see how the economy is doing at the time. Unlike most Republicans in Congress, he won't sign a pledge promising not to raise taxes.

Cornilles also talks up his support for expanding international trade. Export-savvy companies in the district would benefit "if we could be friendlier to trade agreements," he says.

Democrats are more divided over free-trade agreements, which most unions staunchly oppose. Bonamici herself is more cautious, saying she would consider future trade pacts on a case-by-case basis. She quietly endorsed the South Korea trade agreement only after it passed Congress and the Democratic primary was over.

Social Security & Medicare

Cornilles is taking a lot of hits from Democratic advertising that questions his commitment to Social Security and Medicare. He says he supports both programs but is just more willing to talk about how to get them on a sound financial footing.

On Social Security, he says he is willing to look at a reprise of the famous 1983 bipartisan deal that helped bring the system out of a looming financial bind. Cornilles says he would consider adjusting the program for future retirees. That includes looking at such things as gradually raising the retirement age, adjusting the cost-of-living index and curtailing benefits for wealthier seniors.

Bonamici says she supports raising the cap on wages subject to the Social Security tax – now set at $106,800 – to bring in more revenue. She points to a bill sponsored by Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., that would also levy Social Security taxes on income above $250,000 a year.

"There are solutions we can come up with that do not break our promises to our seniors," she says, although the Boxer-DeFazio bill has gone nowhere in Congress.

The candidates have similar divisions over Medicare. Cornilles, eager to show his willingness to work across party lines, immediately praised the bipartisan Medicare plan released last month by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisc.

He says changing the program to give recipients a choice of a private plan or traditional Medicare would help reduce costs by introducing more competition. He says Wyden and Ryan have launched "a serious, bipartisan discussion to find common ground on this very difficult issue."

Bonamici says she can't support the Wyden-Ryan Medicare plan, saying it "looks like privatization." She says she worries that younger, healthier recipients would opt for private plans, putting heavier financial pressure on seniors who remain in the traditional plan.

Bonamici sticks with most congressional Democrats in saying that savings can be found by allowing Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies on price and by taking tougher steps to fight fraud in the system.

Energy & environment

Bonamici says global warming is a man-made problem that the country needs to vigorously attack by focusing on solar, wind, wave and other renewable energy resources. She joins environmentalists in fighting the Keystone pipeline project to bring oil from Canada's tar sands region into the U.S. They say extracting this oil causes huge greenhouse gas emissions and threatens groundwater supplies.

Cornilles says building the pipeline would create thousands of jobs and makes more sense than letting Canada ship the oil to China. But Cornilles is less certain when he talks about global warming, saying scientific opinion often changes. "I read two weeks ago that cheese is now good for me, he said in the KGW/The Oregonian debate. "Who woulda thunk it?"

Foreign policy

Bonamici says she wants the U.S. to pull its troops out of Afghanistan more quickly than the president envisions. Cornilles says he generally supports Obama's timetable.

Both endorse sanctions and other steps to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Cornilles says he would go "very far" to keep Iran from going nuclear. Does that mean he'd support a military strike against the country? He wouldn't say.

Abortion

Bonamici is a staunch supporter of abortion rights who opposes any additional restrictions. Cornilles says he supports outlawing abortion except in cases of rape and incest and to protect the life of a mother.

Cornilles does say he disagrees with the House Republican attempt to yank federal funding from Planned Parenthood, saying the organization "serves a noble role" with many of its services.